


behind these [hazel] eyes

by anothermikaelson



Series: of wristrockets and skateboards [16]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate POVs, Dustin needs a hug, F/M, Honestly everyone needs a hug, Steve Needs a Hug, This is hella long, Will Needs a Hug, fluff obviously, i dont actually ship jancy but anyway-
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28080861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothermikaelson/pseuds/anothermikaelson
Summary: lumax, through the eyes of everyone else. post season 2/3.--aka lucas and max are way too underrated smhaka everyone x surprised pikachu faces
Relationships: Eleven/Mike Wheeler (background), Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler (background/mentioned), Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler (mentioned)
Series: of wristrockets and skateboards [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011171
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	behind these [hazel] eyes

**Author's Note:**

> title from kelly clarkson's "behind these hazel eyes"

**Eleven notices it first (or so she thinks).**

The first time she notices it, she's just come back from closing the Gate, and she's exhausted. Hopper carries her in, placing her onto the couch, where Mike comes to take her hand and tell her everything's okay. She smiles wearily, and sees Max out of the corner of her eye, worriedly looking on. 

El almost glares at her, but stops when Lucas takes her wrist and tugs her to another room. She notices it then: the way Max's face flushes slightly, like the way Mike's face does when she hugs him or talks to him. 

The way her face does too when she thinks about Mike. 

That alone is enough for her to notice that Max likes Lucas the way she herself likes Mike. And that makes her relax a little bit. 

The next time she notices it, it's the weekend before everyone has to go back to school, and they're all sitting in the cabin, around the TV. The movie they're watching is _Breakfast at Tiffany's,_ El's choice. The boys all complained over having to see a girly movie, but Max stood up and said that she wanted to watch it too. No one argued, so she sat back down next to Lucas, taking a handful of popcorn and popping it into her mouth. El was grateful, but didn't say anything. 

They're all either on the couch, or sprawled out on the floor. Mike is sitting on the floor, and Will is sitting a few feet away from him. El is in Hopper's chair, and Dustin, Max and Lucas are on the couch. Max is leaning on Lucas's shoulder, while Dustin, eating popcorn with gummy worms, chocolate, and nougat, something they all learned the hard way ("Is that _nougat_?" Mike had asked, chewing the popcorn slowly with a contorted face, while Lucas ran to the bathroom to spit it out. El and Will had looked at each other, both spitting out their mouthful. Meanwhile, Max had stood up, grabbed Dustin by the shoulders, and screamed, "WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE GUMMY WORMS AND CHOCOLATE IN THE FUCKING POPCORN?!", while everyone tried to pull her back). 

Lucas and Max are sharing a bowl of buttered popcorn, and Mike has a bowl of salted popcorn, since he thinks butter is greasy. El and Will share a bowl of regular unsalted popcorn, the bowl in between them. The movie is about half an hour in when El sees Max reach over and take Lucas's hand in hers, smiling. 

El blinks, and watches as Lucas smiles back, and lets Max put her head on his shoulder. 

That's when she officially realizes that they're together. Well, that's the word Mike uses, at least. Joyce calls it "boyfriend" and "girlfriend", and Nancy calls it "dating." 

Maybe that's what El has with Mike. 

**

**Steve knows exactly how he started one day being Steve "The Hair" Harrington, and ended it being the best damn babysitter there is.**

What he doesn't know is how he became the relationship counselor/advisor for a bunch of 13 year olds. It starts off with Dustin, who asks for advice on a girl. Steve doesn't know which girl specifically it is, but once he sees Lucas Sinclair walk in with an unfamiliar redhead girl, and the heart eyes both boys make in her direction, it's clear who this girl is. 

Max Mayfield, stepsister of Billy Hargrove. Steve never would've thought it, but she is, apparently. 

But it becomes clear later on that Max only has eyes for Lucas. 

After the Snow Ball, Steve goes to pick up Dustin, who climbs in, both dejected and ecstatic at the same time. Steve tries to start up a conversation, as he revs the car up. "So, dance with any ladies?" 

"Nah, just Nancy." Steve freezes for a second. "Stacey wouldn't dance with me, so Nancy did." 

"Ah, well, Stacey's a dumb bitch." There's a pause. "How about Max?" 

He instantly regrets saying that when he looks at Dustin, who replies slowly. "She danced with Lucas. But it's okay." 

Steve knows it's not, and decides to treat his favorite shithead to some ice cream at 11 o'clock in the middle of December. Honestly, he'd do anything for him. 

It's spring break, and somehow Steve finds himself in the middle of his kitchen making spaghetti (he's a pretty damn good cook too), while the rest of the kids are playing cards. "Hey, shitheads! Food! WASH YOUR HANDS!"

A stampede of footsteps charge to the nearest bathroom, and not twenty seconds later, Dustin slides into a seat at the head of the table. Will follows shyly, sitting down at the foot of the table. Mike and El come over next and sitting down next to each other as well. Lucas and Max come last, sliding into seats across from Mike and El. 

Steve comes by to drop off plates of spaghetti (no meatballs for Max, who apparently is vegetarian), and sits down, squeezing in next to Mike and Dustin, at the corner of the table. He forgets that Mike is left handed, and once Mike elbows him, he drops his fork. 

Groaning, Steve bends down to pick up his fork, mouth full of meatball, and almost chokes and spits it out when he sees a pair of hands clasped together under the table: Max and Lucas's. He sits back up, pretending nothing happened, and gives them a wink. 

They both blush bright red, but Steve knows they're still holding on. This might be the only time they can hold hands. Steve knows Billy would probably kill them both if he found out, and he's proud that these kids would do anything to be together.

If only he and Nancy used to be like that. Then they might still be together. 

**

**Dustin's totally fine with Lucas and Max together.**

Most of the time. 

Sometimes he has to wonder how his best friend has the _audacity_ to just start dating the girl they both very clearly like. But he can't blame him. A relationship is formed with two people, and Max is part of that. She's the one who initiated their relationship, after all.

Just a little part of him is still jealous and mad, but it's all okay once he meets Suzie. 

Once he sees Suzie, what little bit of a crush he has on his best friend's girlfriend just vanishes. 

And he's perfectly happy. 

**

**Mike pretty much half-loses it when he sees Lucas and Max making out on his couch in the basement.**

A million different things to say whip through his mind, from "Congratulations" to "What the fu-", but he just says, "What are you doing? We _use_ that couch!" 

Honestly, he's not totally happy with the fact that Lucas is now dating the zoomer of their group, but as time goes on, he gets used to it, and it pretty much becomes impossible to see Lucas with Max, and vice versa. They're pretty much attached at the hip. 

It's common knowledge in the party that Mike and Max have this unresolved thing between them, and Mike is the one who goes to hold his hand out. After all, he _did_ indirectly draw first blood. 

"Max, since this is a party rule, and I drew first blood, here." His hand wavers between the two of them. 

Max rolls her eyes. "You didn't even draw any blood. And besides, I thought I wasn't part of the party." 

Mike groans. "I know, and I'm sorry. I've been an asshole. And I know I shouldn't have been so mean to you, and you're right, I haven't been treating you like you're part of the party." 

"I could've told you all of that, like, six months ago." 

"JUST SHAKE!" Mike almost yells, frustrated. 

Laughing, Max shakes his hand, and heads back to sit with Lucas, who is visibly confused. Mike lets himself watch them interact, hoping he'll be able to cement something into his relationship with El. 

Besides, even though Lucas and Max have a really problematic relationship, they do make a pretty good pair. 

**

**Will was the one who actually saw it first.**

He was the one who noticed that Dustin and Max were never going to happen. Even if it seemed harsh, it was true. The way Max looked at Lucas when he wasn't looking...Dustin would never stand a chance. 

Will was the one who overheard Max talking to her mom on the school phone that she was invited to go trick-or-treating with some people, and how excited she was. 

He was the one who just knew that Max would be the one dancing with Lucas at the Snow Ball. 

And he was the one who noticed them kiss. 

He was the one who noticed them holding hands during the movie at the cabin, and he was the one who noticed that El noticed too. 

He was also the one, unfortunately, who saw them kissing on the couch in the Wheelers' basement first. At least Mike stopped them first. 

**

**Of all the people Nancy thought Lucas would end up with, she would've never thought it'd be the new redhead girl, much less Billy Hargrove's stepsister.**

To be fair, Nancy didn't even have anyone she thought Lucas would end up with. But when she saw the way they looked at each other, she knew they were already in too deep to get out. 

She's known Lucas since forever, literally. Once Mike and Lucas met each other outside when they were four, they were inseparable. Then came Will and Dustin. And El and Max. Then, somehow, Steve (she's still trying to get over that). 

Lucas has always been a very down-to-earth person, following the rules and taking no nonsense. Once the Upside Down was revealed to be an alternate dimension, that's seemed to change something in him, but he was still very straightforward, never bending any rule. 

Then a certain redhead came along, and Lucas practically went down a rabbit hole of Max Mayfield. He was the one, she found out later on, that told her all about the Upside Down, despite a very strict rule that they couldn't tell anyone. Once that rule was bent, everything was clear.

Nancy began to notice the way Lucas would look at Max when she wasn't looking, and way he'd be the one talking to her the most, making her feel like part of the party. Then she noticed the way Max would smile only when he was around, and the way she's always seem to be broken without him. 

Then out of nowhere, it seemed, her baby brother began dating the new girl who was definitely way out of his league (Nancy's also still confused as to how he ended up with El. But then again, she and Jonathan are together, so anything's possible). And next thing she knows, Max is kissing Lucas at the Snow Ball, and then Dustin gets a girlfriend who lives in Utah. 

Over the course of literally a year and a half, a group of misfits that played D&D every weekend suddenly began to mature faster than she ever did, and now most of them were in a relationship. Then a little while after Billy dies, Max goes looking for advice on her love life because, well, those three words begin to surface in her relationship. And El has to move away and Mike is upset about it, but she delivers those three words right before she leaves, and it seems like a whirlwind of events have happened, leaving Nancy confused as to when exactly everything had happened, and when things would be normal again.

God, she hopes Holly doesn't grow up this fast. 

**  
  


**Hopper almost chokes on his coffee the first time he sees them together.**

He heard rumors about Max and Lucas being together, but didn't think it was actually true. Then he's just walking along the street for his patrol at the lake when he sees them holding hands and walking down the street. 

That encounter flashes him back to Mike and El, and that's how he realizes that he and El are dating (a little too late). 

And that's how he ends up practically running down to his car to make sure the Wheeler kid isn't at the cabin. 

**

**She thought Mike was just going insane that day when Karen heard Mike yelling about Lucas and Max being together.**

Mike was yelling about Lucas and Max "having their tongues halfway down each others' throats" to Nancy when Karen had groaned and rolled her eyes. But then she heard Nancy saying something about it being obvious. 

And that's how she ends up noticing everything about those two, and Mike and El. She notices how much Lucas and Max, though they don't show it off like Mike and El, like each other. She doesn't notice it until Joyce points it out one day, but the way Lucas and Max look at each other? 

It's something she definitely never had with Ted. And that's something she regrets. 

**

**Billy's the one who notices the lovesick look on Max's face after the Snow Ball.**

He's also the one who notices that Max does like Lucas, and that he likes her too. That's part of the reason he really regrets hurting Lucas at the Byers'. 

Billy knows how racist Neil is, and how bad he'd hurt both Max and him if he found out about Lucas. So to protect them both, Billy had to scare off Lucas. 

Of course, it didn't work. Lucas didn't go, and that's when Billy realized that this boy would do anything for his sister. And that's part of the reason he does back off after Max's threat. 

He talks it over with Max one day, and she understands and forgives him. But Billy still makes sure Lucas never enters their house. 

**

**Susan finds out about Max's relationship with Lucas Sinclair about a month after her stepson dies.**

She didn't know it at the time, but this Sinclair boy was the one who was able to get her daughter out of the house for the first time in weeks, and the one who was able to get rid of the demon that was her husband--now ex-husband. 

It's a week into school when Susan overhears Max on a walkie-talkie her friends bought for her, at almost eleven at night. 

"Hey, MadMax, you there?" She hears a masculine voice say. _MadMax?_

Max's room light turns on, and she replies. "Yeah, what's up?" 

"You're coming over for breakfast tomorrow, right?" Susan blinks. Is that the reason Max hasn't been eating breakfast with them since forever? 

"Yeah, why? I always do." 

"Erica's wants to make it tomorrow, since it's Saturday. And if you don't want food poisoning, I'd suggest coming with me for breakfast at Benny's." 

Max laughs, a wholehearted laugh Susan hasn't heard in forever. "Sounds like a date, Stalker." 

A date? Susan tries to stay silent as she presses her ear closer to the door. The "stalker" on the other line replies. "Well, we haven't been on one in ages." At that, Susan almost trips over her own feet. Her daughter has been dating someone? 

"Bullshit. We literally just went to the arcade, like, two days ago." 

"Yeah, with the rest of the party." 

"True." 

"So, your options are food poisoning and a date with the best boyfriend in the world. What do you choose?" 

Susan hears Max scoff. "You're so modest. I'll stop by your house first, though, since I have a present for Erica's birthday. Then we can head out." 

"Alright, then, princess." Susan's eyes widen at the nickname. "I'll see you there." 

"Okay," Max says. 

"I love you, Maxi." Susan literally almost faints at that. What stage are this boy and her daughter at? 

"I love you too, baby." Looking up at the ceiling, Susan walks back to her room. 

When did her daughter grow up so fast? 

**

**Joyce isn't exactly sure when she realized that Lucas and Max were a thing.**

She knew about Mike and El--how could she not?--but she doesn't know when exactly it became common knowledge to her that Lucas was dating the new redhead girl. She only knew that both he and Dustin had a crush on her, but she didn't know about Max specifically. 

Maybe it's that one day the party's hanging out at the Byers', since Joyce doesn't want Will out too much, even though El's already closed the gate a month ago. Everyone's sitting around planning their next D&D campaign, and the boys are trying to teach the girls how to play. 

"This is so stupid. So Mike gets to narrate the whole story and ensure I'll die?" Max asks, throwing her hands up. Joyce notices the little glare El would normally shoot in the redhead's direction isn't there. In fact, she's smiling along, trying not to laugh. Clearly, everyone's pretty confused about it, too. 

"I won't make you die! I don't even know what you are!"

Max leans back in her seat on the couch next to Lucas, crossing her legs. "Zoomer."

"There's no such thing as a zoomer!" 

"Well, since you're so good at making things up in this game, can't you just make up a zoomer?" 

"That's not how it works!" 

"Why _not_?" 

Mike groans. "It's just not!" There's a pause. "Fine. You can be a rogue." 

"What the hell is a rogue?" 

"Like a thief." 

"Good enough." Max yawns. "I'm going to take a power nap. Wake me up and your face will meet my fist." Joyce sees Max drop her head on Lucas's shoulder and put her arms around his torso, and almost drops her plate. Lucas puts an arm around her, and Joyce can't really process the fact that no one else notices that but El. And maybe Will. He's pretty observant, after all. 

Joyce leaves for half an hour to go buy food for dinner, and by the time she comes back, Dustin's about to get punched in the face. 

**Author's Note:**

> anyone catch that teen wolf reference? ;)
> 
> so there's the huge thing i've been working on for a while now. i know some sections are shorter than others, but i just didn't have too much to write for some of these characters, so here we are. i hope you guys liked it!!
> 
> xoxo


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